Old activity building to be razed

A Palm Harbor community center will rise from the rubble of the structure once owned by the United Methodist church.

By LISA GREENE

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 28, 2001

PALM HARBOR -- The old activity building at the Palm Harbor United Methodist Church will be torn down to make way for a new community center in the downtown historic district.

To get the $350,000 needed for the new building, plans to beautify two downtown side streets have been put on hold.

The swap keeps the project to redevelop the historic district within its $2.7-million budget.

Commissioners gave an informal go-ahead Monday to staff members. The activity building, now unused but once owned by the church, will be torn down within the next several weeks, said Carl Barron, county general services director.

In June, commissioners told residents they could choose between renovating the building and putting new sidewalks, parking and landscaping on Omaha Circle and 12th Street between Georgia and Nebraska avenues.

The activity building was originally to be torn down to make way for a parking lot. Commissioners gave residents the choice after hundreds of them signed petitions asking that it be used as a community center.

At a community meeting last month, most residents said they would prefer to have a new center.

Barron told commissioners Monday that the county could build a new, better building for the same price as renovating the old one. The old one needs repairs from the roof to the plumbing and wiring, he said, and a new building would fit in better with the historic district and be more accessible to the disabled.

The chapel on the site will be renovated as part of the project.

The plan is one that Palm Harbor can be proud of, said Carol McNamee, president of the Palm Harbor Main Street Program.

"I feel that the board led our community in a process that involved the entire community and not just the Main Street community," she said.

Resident Bob Kohler said that despite some past disagreements about what to do in the district, the new plan is a good one.

"We hope we can mend the rifts and all work together," he said.

Also Monday, county engineers told commissioners that a traffic light will be needed at the intersection of Nebraska Avenue and County Road 1 once it is widened. Traffic volume has increased 20 percent during the past few years, and there have been several accidents there, they said. The four-way stop signs there will work for now but will be confusing to motorists once there are more lanes at the intersection, they said.

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